Nintendo company leadership (pictured here in puppet form) made the mistake of talking at their customers rather than with them during the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Talking directly to your customers is often a great way to tell your story. However, this approach can have unintended consequences.

Nintendo learned this lesson after an angry reaction from its customers following its presentation at the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). In 2013, Nintendo made the decision to forgo use of press releases to announce new offerings and instead communicate directly with consumers through pre-recorded video broadcasts. For the past two years, the broadcasts have been well-received.

However, this year’s broadcast backfired and fans were very angry about Nintendo’s new game offerings. After more information about the games was released, the initial reactions started to soften, but some of the damage was already done. Here are three things that Nintendo could have done to prevent negative reactions from its fans.

1. Allow for two-way communicationCommunicating to your customers directly can be a great idea, but make sure that communication offers some form of two-way communication. It's important to talk with your customers, not at them. Nintendo’s pre-recorded video statement did not allow anyone – fans or journalists – to ask questions. If fans and journalists had the opportunity to ask questions, many initial concerns could have been assuaged, and Nintendo could offer more context.

2. Give an exclusive preview to a small groupAlso, with an interactive medium like video games, video trailers are not the best way to demonstrate what the experience of playing a video game is like. Nintendo might consider allowing a small group of bloggers and journalists to play the games prior to its announcement, with an agreement that they would not post their thoughts until after the broadcast.

3. Perform researchWhile Nintendo is a creative company that offers unique products, the company sometimes seems hopelessly out of touch with what its fans actually want. The E3 offerings demonstrated a clear disconnect. Part of the miscommunication might be attributed to cultural differences since Nintendo is a Japanese company. However, if the company was better at testing its messaging with fans, it could avoid similar difficulties in the future.